The present invention relates to an internal combustion engine combined with a reformed gas generator for the purpose of minimizing the emission of the noxious combustion products.
In the conventional internal combustion engines combined with a reformed gas generator, the mixture of hydrocarbon fuel such as gasoline, air, water and exhaust gases from the engine is passed through a reactor packed with catalysts and heated at a temperature between 250 and 1,000.degree. C. so that a part of the fuel may be converted into hydrogen and/or carbon monoxide before the combustion mixture is charged into the combustion chambers of the engine. There has been also devised and demonstrated an internal combustion engine of the type in which hydrogen supplied from a hydrogen storage tank is mixed with the hydrocarbon fuel. In the engines of the former type, an independent water tank must be mounted so that there is a fear that the water tank may rupture when water is freezed. When the fuel contains lead compounds, the exhaust gases inevitably contains the lead compounds so that the catalysts are contaminated or poisoned by the lead compounds. Even when the fuel does not contain the lead compounds, soot and tar in the exhaust gases contaminate the catalysts. Therefore in either cases, the catalytic activity is lost. When the fuel is a cyclic hydrocarbon compound such as gasoline, light oil, kerosine and the like or when the hydrocarbon fuel contains gum, soot and tar are deposited upon the surfaces of the catalysts, the inner wall of the reactor and the inner wall of the fuel supply pipe connecting the reactor with the engine so that the catalytic activity is lost and the clogging of the fuel pipe occurs. In the internal combustion engines of the type in which hydrogen is supplied from a hydrogen storage tank, there is a fear that the storage tank might explode itself. Furthermore, the hydrogen storage tanks are, in general, large in size and heavy in weight so that mounting them on the automotive vehicles results very serious economical disadvantages.